He Measured Nine
Feet Six Inches From Tip Of Nose To Tip Of Tail,
And Stood Three Feet Eleven And A Half Inches
High; But, As In The Case Of His Companion,
The Skin Was Disfigured By Being Deeply Scored
All Over By The Boma Thorns.
The news of the death of the second "devil"
soon spread far and wide over the country, and
natives actually travelled from up and down the
line to have a look at my trophies and at the
"devil-killer", as they called me.
Best of all, the
coolies who had absconded came flocking back to
Tsavo, and much to my relief work was resumed
and we were never again troubled by man-eaters.
It was amusing, indeed, to notice the change
which took place in the attitude of the workmen
towards me after I had killed the two lions.
Instead of wishing to murder me, as they once
did, they could not now do enough for me, and as
a token of their gratitude they presented me with
a beautiful silver bowl, as well as with a long
poem written in Hindustani describing all our
trials and my ultimate victory. As the poem
relates our troubles in somewhat quaint and
biblical language, I have given a translation of it
in the appendix. The bowl I shall always
consider my most highly prized and hardest won
trophy. The inscription on it reads as follows: -
SIR, - We, your Overseer, Timekeepers,
Mistaris and Workmen, present you with this
bowl as a token of our gratitude to you for your
bravery in killing two man-eating lions at great
risk to your own life, thereby saving us from
the fate of being devoured by these terrible
monsters who nightly broke into our tents and
took our fellow-workers from our side.
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